TEHRAN: Iran on Tuesday said it sentenced three people — one woman and two men — to lengthy prison terms on security and spying charges. The men were convicted of spying for Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency.
Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Esmaili said in remarks broadcast on state TV that the convicted woman is Aras Amiri, who had worked for the British Council while allegedly spying on cultural activities in Iran. The British Council is a non-political organization that works in education, arts and culture.
Amiri has been jailed for the past year while her case was under investigation. She was sentenced to 10 years.
Esmaili identified one of the men as Anoush Ashoori, a dual British-Iranian national. He was sentenced to 12 years for ties to Mossad, as was Ali Johari. Ashoori was detained in Tehran in August 2017.
Johari allegedly passed on information about construction projects by a Revolutionary Guard-affiliated construction conglomerate, Khatam Al-Anbia. Esmaili said Johari traveled to Israel and was in touch with Mossad in various countries including India, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office said in a Tuesday statement that it has been supportive of Ashoori’s family since his detention and the British Embassy in Tehran continues to request consular access.
“The treatment of all dual nationals detained in Iran is a priority and we raise their cases at the most senior levels. We urge Iran to let them be reunited with their families,” the statement said.
The sentencing comes at a time of increased tensions between the US and Iran over its unraveling nuclear deal with world powers, including Britain. Though the British Embassy in Tehran has reopened, the British Council has been closed since 2009.
Another British-Iranian woman held in Tehran, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, is currently serving a five-year prison sentence for allegedly planning the “soft toppling” of Iran’s government while traveling with her young daughter.
Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who works for the charity arm of Thomson Reuters, was arrested in April 2016. Her sentence has been widely criticized.
Iran does not recognize dual nationalities.
Hard-liners in Iran view the country as fighting a cultural “soft war” against Westernization, which they believe is attempting to transform the country’s Islamic beliefs.
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Iran sentences 3 to long prison terms on spying charges
Iran sentences 3 to long prison terms on spying charges
- Two of them have dual British nationality
- The sentencing comes at a time of increased tensions between the US and Iran
Clashes in the West Bank kill a 19-year-old Palestinian-American, Palestinian officials say
TEL AVIV: Clashes in the Israeli-occupied West Bank killed a 19-year-old Palestinian-American man late Wednesday night, the Palestinian Health Ministry said.
The ministry said Nasrallah Muhammad Jamal Abu Siyam was shot by settlers in the village of Mukhmas, north of Jerusalem.
The Israeli military said soldiers responded to a violent confrontation in the area and attempted to disperse a riot. The military said that suspects shot at several Palestinians, who were evacuated for medical treatment.
Abu Siyam’s mother told The Associated Press that he also held American citizenship. The US Embassy did not respond to requests for comment Thursday,
Violence in the West Bank from extremist settlers has soared in the past few years.
Palestinians and rights groups say authorities routinely fail to prosecute settlers or hold them accountable for violence. Under National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, investigations into settler attacks have plummeted, according to the Israeli rights group Yesh Din.
In a rare move earlier this week, Israeli prosecutors announced they plan to charge a settler in the killing of a Palestinian activist during a confrontation that was caught on video.
More than 3.4 million Palestinians and 700,000 Israelis live in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories captured by Israel in 1967 and sought by Palestinians for a future state. The international community overwhelmingly considers Israeli settlement construction in these areas to be illegal and an obstacle to peace.
Report finds Palestinian journalists imprisoned in Israel were tortured
The Committee to Protect Journalists said that dozens of Palestinian journalists who were detained in Israel during the war in Gaza experienced terrible conditions, including physical assaults, forced stress positions, sensory deprivation, sexual violence and medical neglect.
CPJ has documented the detention of at least 94 Palestinian journalists and one media worker during the war in Gaza. It covers 32 journalists and one media worker from Gaza, 60 from the West Bank, and two from Israel. Thirty of the journalists are still in custody, CPJ said.
The report found that half of the journalists detained were never charged with a crime and were held under Israel’s administrative detention system, which allows for suspects deemed a security risk to be held for six months and can be renewed indefinitely.
Israel’s prison services did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the report, but had rejected a similar report in January about conditions for Palestinian prisoners as “false allegations,” contending it operates lawfully, is subject to oversight and reviews complaints.
UN development chief says removing Gaza rubble will take 7 years
The vast destruction across Gaza will take at least seven years just to remove the rubble, according to the United Nations Development Program.
Alexander De Croo, the former Belgian prime minister who just returned from Gaza, said that the UNDP had removed just 0.5 percent of the rubble and people in Gaza are experiencing “the worst living conditions that I have ever seen.”
De Croo said 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.2 million people live in “very, very rudimentary tents” in the middle of the rubble, which poses health dangers and a danger from exploding weapons.
He said UNDP has been able to build 500 improved housing units, and has 4,000 more that are ready, but estimates the true need is 200,000 to 300,000 units. The units are meant to be used temporarily while reconstruction takes place. He called on Israel to expand access for goods and items needed for reconstruction and the private sector to begin development.
The ministry said Nasrallah Muhammad Jamal Abu Siyam was shot by settlers in the village of Mukhmas, north of Jerusalem.
The Israeli military said soldiers responded to a violent confrontation in the area and attempted to disperse a riot. The military said that suspects shot at several Palestinians, who were evacuated for medical treatment.
Abu Siyam’s mother told The Associated Press that he also held American citizenship. The US Embassy did not respond to requests for comment Thursday,
Violence in the West Bank from extremist settlers has soared in the past few years.
Palestinians and rights groups say authorities routinely fail to prosecute settlers or hold them accountable for violence. Under National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, investigations into settler attacks have plummeted, according to the Israeli rights group Yesh Din.
In a rare move earlier this week, Israeli prosecutors announced they plan to charge a settler in the killing of a Palestinian activist during a confrontation that was caught on video.
More than 3.4 million Palestinians and 700,000 Israelis live in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem, territories captured by Israel in 1967 and sought by Palestinians for a future state. The international community overwhelmingly considers Israeli settlement construction in these areas to be illegal and an obstacle to peace.
Report finds Palestinian journalists imprisoned in Israel were tortured
The Committee to Protect Journalists said that dozens of Palestinian journalists who were detained in Israel during the war in Gaza experienced terrible conditions, including physical assaults, forced stress positions, sensory deprivation, sexual violence and medical neglect.
CPJ has documented the detention of at least 94 Palestinian journalists and one media worker during the war in Gaza. It covers 32 journalists and one media worker from Gaza, 60 from the West Bank, and two from Israel. Thirty of the journalists are still in custody, CPJ said.
The report found that half of the journalists detained were never charged with a crime and were held under Israel’s administrative detention system, which allows for suspects deemed a security risk to be held for six months and can be renewed indefinitely.
Israel’s prison services did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the report, but had rejected a similar report in January about conditions for Palestinian prisoners as “false allegations,” contending it operates lawfully, is subject to oversight and reviews complaints.
UN development chief says removing Gaza rubble will take 7 years
The vast destruction across Gaza will take at least seven years just to remove the rubble, according to the United Nations Development Program.
Alexander De Croo, the former Belgian prime minister who just returned from Gaza, said that the UNDP had removed just 0.5 percent of the rubble and people in Gaza are experiencing “the worst living conditions that I have ever seen.”
De Croo said 90 percent of Gaza’s 2.2 million people live in “very, very rudimentary tents” in the middle of the rubble, which poses health dangers and a danger from exploding weapons.
He said UNDP has been able to build 500 improved housing units, and has 4,000 more that are ready, but estimates the true need is 200,000 to 300,000 units. The units are meant to be used temporarily while reconstruction takes place. He called on Israel to expand access for goods and items needed for reconstruction and the private sector to begin development.
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